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JUSTICE LEAGUE War Review

Justice League: War is the first film to be based on DC’s New 52 Universe and. If you’re not a fan of the New 52; chances are you won’t like this either. This is the Justice League before they’re the Justice League. They don’t like one other and the world doesn’t like them. When multiple alien abductions occur around the world the likes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Cyborg and… Shazam! are forced to work together to face a greater threat!

Contains light spoilers..

Our heroes meet for the first time and they don’t particularly like one another.

The imperfect Justice League

The whole point of this film, and the New 52 in general, is that all these heroes are beginners. As with the blockbuster movie Man of Steel, this is not the Superman we all know and love but a Superman just started. Again, they’re all beginners at this point; they’re not yet the perfect heroes and personalities we think of them to be. Hell, Wonder Woman still chooses to refer to herself as a “Warrior” rather than a “hero” at this point. This point is this these characters may act differently to what you were expecting. I stress this because I do feel this is lost on some people.

The most obvious of these is Wonder Woman. This is a Wonder Woman very fresh from Paradise Island not yet fully accustomed to the ways of “Man’s World”. The woman’s flying around swinging around her sword like it’s a toy. It’s funny to watch though. Knowing this, I can appreciate why Wonder Woman and the rest are the way there are. Superman does come off overly aggressive but that would be my only complaint.

Best Frenemies

Character relationship are a big theme in this film. The film establishes mini-relationships between all the member of the “Super Seven”.” They all come across natural and none of them feel forced. My favorite duo is Batman and Green Lantern. Choosing to focus on a relationship whether the two party historically don’t like each other. It’s very refreshing. The chemistry and dialogue between them is brilliant. Even if Lantern is a little too dim-witted for my liking.

Why I’d rather Hal Jordan in a live-action Justice League movie than of John Stewart..

Shazam’s inclusion to the story at the expense of Aquaman was questioned at first but it does the film no harm. Shazam’s provides a distinct personality in the group that Aquaman does not. It’s like he represents the fan meeting his hero for the first time. This is literally the case when he first meets Cyborg; who’s an American Football star. Again, Shazam encourages Cyborg in a way that Aquaman could and would not finally linking everyone together in some way. I enjoy thoroughly enjoyed the scenes of Cyborg and his father. Things parts definitely contain the most emotion. Silas Stone has a new fan in me.

Presentation and Story

The art has improved from Flashpoint which wasn’t too bad to begin with. No more stupidly looking faces; everyone looks the way they should. I’ve even warmed to Wonder Woman’s re-design. The dialogue is well-written and most Voice Actors do their characters justice, Silas Stone is excellent, but GL’s sounds a little high-pitched against Batman’s voice.

While he gives a good fight, Darkseid has 0% personality whatsoever.

The action is a mix bag. Some fights are brilliant while others are lackluster. Each member gets a fair amount of screen time which isn’t something you could have always said in the past but for a film all about the action I would expect better cherography instead of your typical “everyone does a signature attack on at a time”. It’s by no means terrible I just expect better and Justice League War does have its moments. It’s not as violent as Flashpoint but there were some brutal fights scenes.

The action are important because the overall plot is very minimal. As said before, Character Relationship take the wheel here aside from some touching stuff with Cyborg and his father. Main villain Darkseid certainly puts up a good fight but barely offers any personality here. I, for one, love charismatic villains but Darkseid has none of that here not that the story demands it anyway.

Final Verdict: Good

Standout Characters: Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Silas Stone

Justice League War is not the most emotionally gripping story around but it’s a refreshing on the Justice League. Unless you absolutely despite the New 52; this is a good watch. It’s a simple plot, a veeeeery simple plotbut is structured well, it’s easy to follow and there’s lots of action and lots of comedic moments to enjoy.

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4 thoughts on “JUSTICE LEAGUE War Review”

Read Action Comics by Grant Morrison and you will understand Superman more in the new 52. He’s gone back to the roots of the character who was a social crusader and one who on appearing was tortured by the government and both his parents are dead. He is brash and yes, he needs to learn restraint but he is not the dumb boyscout of old. He acts, does not preach nor is a tool of the government anymore.

I’ve read some of them and I agree with you. I’m not against that. I just felt it was a little over the top. He was smashing people through buildings and shit. It was fun to watch though. I’m not too bothered about it =P